A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to safety systems and, more particularly, to systems and methods that present a simple and easily deployable mechanism that provides visual information regarding locations, such as dangerous intersections, blind comers or curves, railroad crossings, etc., to drivers of vehicles to reduce the occurrence of accidents.
B. Description of Related Art
There are thousands of locations across the country that pose a danger to drivers of vehicles, such as cars, buses, trucks, trains, and the like. Many of these locations contain warning signs, such as xe2x80x9cHidden Driveway,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cBlind Curve,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cRailroad Crossing,xe2x80x9d and the like, to warn drivers of the potential dangers. These locations may also contain some type of warning signal, such as a flashing light or an audible alarm. Nevertheless, accidents continue to occur at these locations.
The reasons for the accidents vary. Drivers may enter the location at such excessive speeds that they cannot stop in time to avoid an obstacle in their course. Alternatively, the warning systems become obstructed in some manner. For example, weather conditions may prevent the drivers from seeing and/or hearing the warnings or the warning systems themselves may fail and, as a result, the drivers become unaware of the potential dangers. In some instances, accidents occur because drivers simply ignore the warning signs.
Therefore, there exists a need for a warning system that warns drivers of actual danger at any location that may be considered dangerous.
Systems and methods consistent with the present invention address this need by providing a simple and easy-to-use mechanism that sends visual information regarding dangerous locations to drivers of vehicles in proximity to the dangerous locations prior to the drivers reaching the locations so that they may react appropriately to avoid an accident.
In accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, a system facilitates visual monitoring of a dangerous location. The system includes a stationary camera device and at least one mobile display device corresponding to at least one vehicle. The camera device captures a video image of the dangerous location and transmits video signals representative of the captured video image. The display device receives the video signals from the camera device when the corresponding vehicle is in proximity to the camera device and presents the video signals as a video image of the dangerous location to a driver of the vehicle.
In another implementation consistent with the present invention, a system includes multiple camera devices corresponding to multiple dangerous locations and at least one mobile display device corresponding to at least one vehicle. Each of the camera devices captures a video image of the corresponding dangerous location and transmits video signals representative of the captured video image. The display device receives the video signals from each of the camera devices when the corresponding vehicle is in proximity to the camera device and presents the video signals as a video image of the corresponding dangerous location to a driver of the vehicle.
In yet another implementation consistent with the present invention, a method for visually monitoring a dangerous location includes capturing video images of different views corresponding to the dangerous location by multiple camera devices; transmitting video signals representative of the different views on a corresponding number of different communication channels; receiving the video signals from a first one of the communication channels by at least one first mobile display device, corresponding to at least one first type of vehicle, when the corresponding first type of vehicle is in proximity to a corresponding one of the camera devices and presenting the video signals as a video image corresponding to the dangerous location to a driver of the first type of vehicle; and receiving the video signals from a second one of the communication channels by at least one second mobile display device, corresponding to at least one second type of vehicle, when the corresponding second type of vehicle is in proximity to a corresponding one of the camera devices and presenting the video signals as a video image corresponding to the dangerous location to a driver of the second type of vehicle.